Monday 6 March 2017

Semester 2. Week 6, Life Drawing & Movement

Today's lesson was really enjoyable for me, which has been a theme throughout this semester. I believe it's a mixture of becoming more confident not only in my drawing abilities but in being able to draw and not worry so much about the outcome. I've also found each lesson very engaging in topic. This is probably because last semester we were learning the foundations of life drawing and though we are all still beginners, it is now getting more complex - challenging me in a way that makes me look forward to the next lesson.

One thing I decided to do differently today, compared with previous lessons, was to take notes during the session. I don't know why this idea never occurred to me before! I take notes in every other lecture but I've been preoccupied with drawing continuously in this class. What I did was, if I had time after changing paper, I would jot down some notes about how the piece went, then during the break I wrote more; though I didn't manage to make any notes for the final two 45 minute tasks while in class. I think this process helped me evaluate myself better in my blog because I could see exactly how I felt about pieces at the time of drawing them.


(1)
Charcoal
Top Left: 5 Min
Top Middle: 4 Min
Bottom Left: 3 Min.
Bottom Middle: 2 Min.
Bottom Right: 1 Min.
Middle Right: 30 Sec
Top Right: 15 Sec

As I was prepared to do a quick sketch so accidentally rushed the first drawing (top left), as you can see it is overworked. I found this exercise fun to get myself ready to draw quickly. I am particularly pleased with the 15-second drawing and feel I have captured the essence of that pose.

(2)
Centre: Three Main Movements and Inbetween
Top Right: Multiple Quick Sketches as Finished Centre Image
Charcoal
15 Min

At first, I found this exercise quite difficult. The life model kept moving and for a while, I could only focus on the first two poses. After a few minutes though I really got into it and enjoyed it. I made the lines thicker for the main poses and added in the transitions in a less harsh mark, this was inspired by the art piece shown in the Anim1003 blog that used a similar technique. The 3rd pose was the most difficult as I found trouble getting the angle right, and I can see now, on the second pose, the model's left foot is in the wrong place. Overall I'm very pleased with the piece.

The sketches top right are there because I had a few minutes spare and I didn't want to overdo the main piece, I believe they were beneficial in getting used to drawing transition poses.

(3)
Moving Across the Room
Charcoal and Red Watercolour Pencil
15 Min

With this task, I'm not sure why I didn't take the same approach as to the previous. Sometimes you have to try something different to see that it doesn't work and this is the case here. I definitely found it more difficult because the model was moving across the room not just moving in the same spot. I noticed, and upon feedback, it was agreed, that I did too many in between poses instead of focusing on a few and making them look good. It looks quite messy and overcrowded and in future, I won't use the same approach when conveying movement.

(4)
Moving Across the Room and Action
Charcoal and Red Watercolour Pencil
5 Min

I found this pose really difficult to draw. I feel like it was because I knew I only had 5 minutes to draw it so put pressure on myself. Although the two main poses are good and show movement, the transition pose is faint and evidently rushed. It is a shame because it was an interesting pose and could have made for an interesting drawing.

(5a)
Attempt One of Drawing Below.

I started by making the model too tiny so I flipped the page and began again.


(5b)
Focus - Proportions & Angles
Charcoal
19 Min

I decided to focus on proportions because it was part of my feedback from last semester, with regards to what I need to improve. I also wanted to focus on angles because I feel that a lot of the time that's what gets me in a jam in the first place. When I'm drawing, I'll get one angle wrong and reference other things from that wrong angle, thus ending up with a disproportional or wonky piece. 

This went fairly well, I received feedback that the foreshadowing was good and that without the life model as reference the piece looks well proportioned, but that the mistakes were visible. I could see them also and wanted to push myself so got a second piece of paper.

(5c)

I marked the areas I needed to improve proportionally with X's and an arrow to show I needed the shoulders closer together. I then taped this to the bottom of my easel to reference it as well as the model when I drew my next piece so that I did not make the same mistakes again.

(6)
Focus - Proportions & Angles
Charcoal
20 Min

I feel like this method worked really well. By drawing the pose once and seeing where I went right and wrong, I could reproduce the image looking at the life-model with the specific pitfalls in mind. I am very proud of this piece and feel I have achieved my focus on angles and proportion as well as foreshortening well. I also drew in the hands, feet and face in detail as sometimes I avoid these features and I wanted to use this task to push myself.

(7)
Focus - Close Up Hands
Charcoal
6 Min

Because I didn't want to overwork the previous piece and I had a few minutes left, I did a close up of the hands as I find hands difficult. I like this drawing but the model's right hand looks a bit smaller than it should.

(8)
Focus - Continuous Line
Byro Pen
16 Min

I did not enjoy doing this piece and regretted my decision immediately. I would have tried something else, but my reluctance was a sign I should challenge myself and move forward. I found it difficult to put everything in the right place and find the composition a bit odd. Generally, I think it was an unsuccessful attempt.

(9)
Focus - Tone
Charcoal, Eraser & Chalk
21 Min

I wanted to practice tone without line and so with this piece, started by creating a background then rubbing out the lightest parts of the piece. I then went in and shaded the darkest parts. Then I added mid tones and went on from there. I felt this was valuable as I did not use an outline and that is definitely a crutch for me when it comes to tone. Everything is in proportion so I feel I've gotten over my no-outline fear and created a nice piece of art.


(10)
Focus - Drawing Movement/ Quick Sketching
Charcoal
7 Min

Again, in fear of overworking my previous piece, I spent the last few minutes doing small drawings. I decided to draw people drawing in the room in preparation for this week's independent study task. I like the piece but my favourite figure is the top middle, you can see the movement in it and I think it's down to the pose. This is something I will think of when planning what I will draw for the independent study task. 

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